ROCHESTER — Voters here will be asked in the March 18 primary if they want the village to become a home-rule community.

The village board unanimously approved the ballot initiative at its meeting Monday night.

Home-rule status, automatically granted to Illinois towns with populations of 25,000 or more, provides for more revenue-raising options. Smaller towns, such as Rochester, which has a population of about 3,760, need voter approval to become home rule.

As a home-rule unit, village government would essentially have all the powers of the state, including to raise taxes. Municipalities with home-rule powers also have more leeway in making their own laws in areas such as public health, safety, building, zoning, morals and welfare, as outlined by the Illinois Constitution.

Kathryn Denardo of Rochester argued against the proposal at Monday’s meeting, saying board approval of the initiative, rather than residents circulating a petition to get it on the ballot, doesn’t provide for ample discussion in the community.

“That’s one of my concerns. Most people don’t even know what home rule means,” Denardo said. “My concern is that it’s not a ballot initiative by petition to where people get the opportunity to find out more about it, to discuss, to decide whether they want this. This is going to go on the ballot, and people have to get this information before they make this decision to vote. They need to know what it means for them in the long run so they know what to decide.”

The question to appear on the March 18 ballot is: “Shall the village of Rochester become a home rule unit?”

Denardo also voiced concerns about giving local officials more power to raise taxes. Because communities with populations over 25,000 are automatically designated as home rule, they are not constrained by non-home-rule tax-cap laws.

Village President David Armstrong said it is not the intention of the board to raise property taxes, adding that the board has historically been conservative in that area.

A major motivator behind the ballot initiative, he said, is for the village to be able to impose a 1-to-2-cent motor fuel tax, which is allowed by home-rule units.

That could potentially generate revenue to put toward bond debt as the village addresses needed capital improvements along heavily used roadways, including Maxheimer Road, Armstrong said.

Another motivator is the village’s ability to enact local ordinances otherwise prohibited by state law. For example, he said, the village initially passed an ordinance banning the erecting of billboard signs, but a company interested in posting such signs notified the board that state law prohibits non-home-rule units from enacting an outright ban.

“We could have had a lawsuit on our hands,” Armstrong said after the meeting.

Page 2 of 2 - Gael Kent of Rochester expressed support for the initiative, saying home rule would protect the village from state unfunded mandates and allow for exploring alternate funding sources. The status would also mean strengthened bond ratings and lower interest rates for debt incurred, Kent said.

There are about 209 home-rule units in Illinois, including Springfield and communities such as Sherman, with a population of 4,340, and Williamsville, with a population of 1,495.